Just four weeks ago Johnson flipped and tumbled three times along the frontstretch after an early-race collision with Buddy Malish. That high-flying performance earned Johnson the honorary flight wings from officers at nearby Langley Air Force base.

``I'm glad we can meet under better circumstances,'' Johnson said after Saturday night's victory. ``A couple of things tonight reminded me of that wreck, but that was over when we left here that night. It doesn't bother me any more.''

The race ended under caution when Mike Conner spun in Turn 3 on lap 146. Johnson led by four car lengths at the time, and even Buffkin realized he would have finished second, even without the last caution.

``If we hadn't had some of the earlier cautions I would have beaten Eddie,'' he said. ``But that next-to-the-last one'' at lap 144 ``really hurt me because I needed 10 to 15 laps to run him back down.''

Johnson outsprinted Buffkin on almost every restart, only to have Buffkin quickly cut the gap to a few lengths. ``I had to wait for him to go,'' Buffkin said of the restarts. ``There's nothing you can do but just sit there and wait. I could catch him under green, but he got away on restarts.''

After winning four consecutive races, Hudson was no factor, and fact he realized early-on. ``We missed the chassis setup,'' he said. ``The car got loose early and I knew it wouldn't get any better. I knew'' the streak ``would end, and I'm glad Eddie's the man to end it.''

In Saturday night's other feature races:

* Pole-sitter Cathy Mosier led the first five laps of the Mini-Stock race, but Tonya Miller led the last 15 to easily get her third victory in six starts.

She won by half-a-straightaway over Mosier, Milton Herring, Chris Weatherford and rookie Joe Deschaine. In victory lane, Miller, who was involved in an altercation in the pits with suspended Mike Gordon last week, received a mixture of boos and cheers.

* After apparently finishing first, second and seventh in the Thunderbolt 20, David Nichols, Larry Phelps and Dave Derkas were disqualified for using illegal engine parts. Jim Holmes, flagged ninth, was disqualified when he refused to submit to an inspection.

That left Vince Pope the official winner, elevated from third on the original rundown. Mark LaDoucer, Brian Douglas, Jimmy Pearce and Paul Warren rounded out the top five.

* Danny Baker continued to dominate in Grand Stock, winning for the fourth time in six starts. He led from flag to flag in beating Bubba Johnston, Robert Dozier, John Hicks and L.A. Moore.

The race was briefly stopped at lap 30 when Gordon Weeks Jr. and Joe Scalco crashed hard just past the start/finish line. Their cars were heavily damaged, but neither driver was hurt.

* Kevin Cunningham won his first Limited Stock race of the season, beating Tod Carson, Ed Huffman, Charles Bryant Jr. and Mike Moore in the 25-lap feature. Carson led the first 15 laps, Cunningham the last 10.